BBC Leads Online News Sector
The BBC’s news website news.bbc.co.uk, is the most popular site for news and information in the UK, according to the latest research from Nielsen//NetRatings.
The site regularly attracts a unique audience of over two million visitors per month, and in June it attracted just over three million users. However, the BBC’s online presence has been the subject of much controversy, with is competitors arguing its funding makes it almost impossible to surpass. While other have questioned the fact that although all television owners pay the licence fee, only a certain percentage of them have access to the internet, despite the fact they contribute equally.
The site’s main rival is www.guardian.co.uk, which regularly attracts an audience of over one million, placing it head and shoulders above its rivals. The Guardian has invested heavily in its online presence, although analysts have suggested that to survive it will inevitably follow the subscription model, successfully pioneered by the Wall Street Journal, and aped by FT.com.
CNN.com, FT.com and telegraph.com followed the sector leaders with on average of half a million visitors per month.
The BBC also performs well in terms of time users spend on the site, with guests browsing for an average of 55 minutes per month, which according to Nielsen is mostly driven by use at work.
However, in the last six-months FT.com has experienced a decline in the amount of time visitors spend on the site, since it introduced its subscription model in July.
Tom Ewing, analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings commented: “The drop in time spent on the FT.com site illustrates a dilemma for website owners. As with other categories, the news sites need to cover the cost of their site to generate revenue from it. To do this, some like FT.com offer a wider range of services and even financial information. Whilst subscribers loyal to the brand and website are prepared to pay, those visitors who were using the site for free could be deterred, and therefore we expect to see a fall in time spent overall.”
Last month Nielsen launched a online adspend measurement service to allow advertisers and their agencies to accurately measure their competitors internet activity and plan their schedules accordingly (see Nielsen Launches Online Adspend Measurement System).
Nielsen Media Research: 01344 627 553 www.nielsenmedia.com
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